World's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford enters Red Sea for first time as U.S. expands strikes on Iran.

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford entered the Red Sea for the first time on March 7, 2026, after transiting the Suez Canal. The deployment expands US naval aviation operations during Operation Epic Fury amid tensions with Iran.

The world's largest aircraft carrier, the US Navy's USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), entered the Red Sea for the first time on March 7, 2026, after transiting the Suez Canal. The deployment expands US naval aviation operations during Operation Epic Fury, and places the Ford-class aircraft carrier closer to Iranian targets and maritime corridors threatened by the country's missile and drone attacks.
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For Operation Epic Fury, the Gerald R. Ford’s F/A-18 Super Hornets provide strike capacity, EA-18G Growlers suppress enemy air defenses, and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye extended airborne early warning and battle management. (Picture source: US Navy)

On March 7, 2026, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Red Sea after transiting the Suez Canal for the first time on March 5, 2026, expanding American naval operations in the Middle East during the ongoing confrontation with Iran and the continuing Operation Epic Fury campaign. The movement followed several weeks of air operations conducted from the eastern Mediterranean, where carrier-based aircraft had already participated in strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure and supporting allied air activity. The deployment placed the Gerald R. Ford inside the operational area of U.S. Central Command at a moment when regional tensions intensified following coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iranian targets and subsequent missile and drone retaliation attempts.

The transit also positioned the carrier close to maritime corridors previously threatened by Houthi missile and drone attacks against commercial vessels and naval units in the Red Sea region. This mission represents the first Middle East deployment for CVN-78 and the most distant operational deployment from the United States since the vessel entered service in July 2017. USS Gerald R. Ford is the lead vessel of the Ford-class aircraft carriers and the largest warship constructed to date, displacing about 100,000 long tons at full load. The ship measures 1,106 feet in length with a flight deck width of 256 feet, a waterline beam of 134 feet, a height of about 250 feet, and a draft of 39 feet. Two Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors provide propulsion through four shafts and enable speeds exceeding 30 knots while supporting an operational endurance of about 25 years before refueling.

The carrier has 25 decks and carries a complement of 4,539 personnel, including the embarked air wing. Aviation facilities include a flight deck measuring 1,092 by 256 feet capable of operating more than 75 aircraft. Defensive systems include RIM-162 ESSM launchers, RIM-116 RAM missile systems, three Phalanx CIWS mounts, four Mk 38 25 mm guns, and four M2 .50 caliber machine guns. The design of the Ford class incorporates structural and operational modifications intended to increase aircraft sortie generation and reduce manpower requirements compared with the Nimitz class. The carrier uses the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System instead of steam catapults, allowing electrically powered launches that remove the requirement to generate and store large quantities of steam.

This arrangement frees space below deck and allows a broader range of aircraft weights to be launched more efficiently. The ship also incorporates Advanced Arresting Gear to recover aircraft and a redesigned weapons handling and elevator system intended to accelerate the movement of munitions from magazines to the flight deck. The island superstructure is shorter and positioned about 140 feet farther aft and closer to the edge of the flight deck, increasing deck area available for aircraft movement. These changes are designed to enable up to 25 percent more aircraft launches per day while requiring about 25 percent fewer crew members than previous carrier designs. 

During Operation Epic Fury, aircraft launched from the carrier have included F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters conducting strike missions against fixed and mobile targets, EA-18G Growler aircraft tasked with electronic warfare and suppression of air defense networks, and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft providing airborne early warning and command coordination. The carrier air wing enables repeated strike cycles combined with defensive counter-air patrols to intercept potential threats from ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Following the initial strikes against Iranian military infrastructure, U.S. forces intercepted hundreds of retaliatory missile and drone launches, preventing casualties among American personnel and limiting infrastructure damage.

The operation also introduced the combat use of LUCAS low-cost one-way attack drones by Task Force Scorpion Strike, expanding strike capacity through distributed unmanned systems integrated with naval aviation. The Ford deployment is occurring alongside other U.S. naval aviation assets in the region. The Nimitz-class carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is operating in the Arabian Sea and conducting sustained flight operations under Operation Epic Fury. The simultaneous presence of a Ford-class and a Nimitz-class carrier significantly increases sortie generation capacity and electronic warfare coverage across the theater. Two flight decks allow parallel mission cycles in which one carrier can focus on offensive strike missions while the other sustains combat air patrols and maritime security tasks.

Escorting destroyers and cruisers equipped with the Aegis combat system add ballistic missile defense capability and long-range strike capacity through vertical launch systems capable of firing Standard Missile interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles. The duration of the deployment has also become significant for naval operations planning. USS Gerald R. Ford departed Naval Station Norfolk on June 24, 2025, and by early March 2026 had spent 255 days at sea. The carrier had previously completed an extended deployment ending on January 17, 2024, after spending 239 days away from its home port.

Current operational planning could extend the present mission to about eleven months, potentially keeping the carrier deployed until May 2026. If the ship remains deployed until mid-April, the mission will exceed the 294-day deployment completed by USS Abraham Lincoln in 2019-2020, the longest post-Vietnam War deployment by a U.S. aircraft carrier. A deployment extending into early May would approach the 300-day carrier deployments common during the Vietnam War. Although nuclear propulsion allows the carrier to operate without refueling for long periods, sustained operations still depend on logistics support to deliver food, aviation fuel, spare parts, and munitions through supply ships and aerial resupply.

Extended deployments also increase maintenance requirements for both the ship and embarked aircraft. Limited maintenance capacity during deployments can restrict the ability to conduct complex repairs at sea, meaning extensive work may be deferred until the carrier returns to port. The prolonged operational tempo also affects the crew, since extended deployments can increase fatigue and workload across flight operations, maintenance activities, and shipboard functions. These operational pressures can elevate the risk of accidents or procedural errors during flight operations when deployments last many months. The movement of Gerald R. Ford into the Red Sea also coincides with preparations for an additional U.S. carrier deployment.

USS George H.W. Bush recently completed composite unit training exercises off the U.S. East Coast and could deploy with its strike group to the Mediterranean and Middle East. During a 28-day training cycle, Carrier Air Wing 7 conducted 1,586 sorties and recorded 693 daytime arrested landings and 682 nighttime landings while practicing rapid aircraft launch and recovery operations. If the carrier deploys, three American carrier strike groups could operate within reach of Iran, significantly expanding available naval aviation capacity across the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the waters approaching the Persian Gulf. Such a concentration of carrier aviation would increase the United States’ ability to sustain continuous air operations, reinforce maritime security missions, and respond rapidly to developments across several critical maritime corridors.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.